Contemporary, fusion-style Indian eateries signal new Asian taste trend

Nation's Restaurant News, March 1, 2004 by Carolyn Walkup

A new crop of contemporary Indian and Indian-fusion restaurants is flowering in many major cities, aimed at attracting a more sophisticated and diverse clientele that may have tired of the sameness of older Indian restaurants.

From coast to coast, the wave is attracting diners from all ethnic backgrounds to trendy locations in mainstream urban and suburban neighborhoods. Proprietors of all the newcomer establishments say they are shying away from stereotypes associated with Indian restaurants in America.

The new-wave movement's fashionable restaurants are opening at a time when Indian immigrants have become the second-largest group of legal migrants to the United States, after Mexicans, according to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Most of the new style of restaurants sport modern decor with only hints of Indian culture. "You can't tell it's an Indian restaurant," said Pardeep Sharma, owner of Mantra in Dallas. Sharma also owns India Palace, a Dallas fine-dining stalwart for 19 years that is more traditionally Indian.

The time is right for his Mantra concept, Sharma said, because of the influx into Dallas of non-Texans, both Indian and non-Indian, who want to try different foods. Mantra's menu offers such specialties as crab rolls with macadamia nuts; tamarind-glazed pork chops with apple chutney over potato chunks, bell peppers and squash; and crispy fried tilapia on garlic-cumin mashed potatoes. Dinner checks average $20.

Rohini Dey, who has a management consulting background, opened Vermilion in Chicago because she saw a dearth of serious Indian dining in this country. "It's the same old greasy fare targeted at an all-you-can-eat audience for $8.95, which is then served in an ambience in which I wouldn't be caught dead," she said.

With a dinner check average of $45, Vermilion combines sleek, contemporary decor with Indian and Latin American fusion cuisine. Dey and chef Maneet Chauhan believe the subtropical regions have a natural affinity because they share many common ingredients, especially spices. They estimate that their non-Indian customers are 70 percent of the total clientele.

Like several other new Indian restaurants, Vermilion takes special pride in its tea and coffee selection. About a dozen loose-tea blends are displayed in a glass case and presented to the table, and Indian coffees are ground fresh daily.

The fusion of Indian and Asian cuisines with French techniques is the concept of Monsoon, which three partners opened last year on Chicago's Near North Side.

Fusion also is on the menu in New York at the brand-new Kalustyan's Masala Cafe, affiliated with the city's noted Kalustyan's global market, founded in 1944. The goal of the cafe, described by its owners as "Indian-inspired cuisine with a French accent," is to acquaint more people with global ingredients and cuisines, partner Aziz Osmani said. Dinner checks average about $30.

"We use the pick of the market to do something unique and different." Osmani said.

The Boston area has several new Indian restaurants, including Rani, in Brookline, Mass., owned by Samir Majmudar, who also owns Boston's Bhindi Bazaar. Rani includes lighter dishes from regions other than Northern India, whose cuisine dominates the menus of most older Indian restaurants in the United States.

Rani maintains a moderate dinner check average of $22 and a value-oriented lunch buffet for $10. Majmudar said he decided to include a lunch buffet, although it is not traditionally Indian, because customers expect it.

The new wave of contemporary, Indian-inspired restaurants follows on the heels of an earlier trend that began about three years ago with the openings of such restaurants as Tandoori Nights in Gaithersburg, Md., Tamarind in New York, Mantra in Boston and Tantra in Los Angeles. Predecessors of them all were most probably Raji's in Memphis, Tenn., owned by the late Raji Jallepalli-Reiss, followed by Tabla in New York, owned by Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group.

Jallepalli-Reiss helped to develop the menu at Tamarind, owned by Avatar Walia, who wanted his restaurant to be considered on a par with New York's fine French and Italian restaurants. "'In other Indian restaurants, whether they opened in 1947 or now, the approach is the same," he said.

Tamarind's dishes are cooked to order, presentations are attractive, the wine list is extensive, tableware is high quality and servers are trained to answer customers" questions, Walia pointed out. "It's good, fresh cooking, and people love it," he stated.

Navraj Singh opened Tantra in Los Angeles in the summer of 2002 in a different style from the family's older India's Oven restaurants, which have been in business since 1981. Singh credits his son and partner. Ratanjit, with having the vision to upgrade Indian cuisine in Los Angeles the way it has been done in London and several other cities.

"It's basically the classic Indian cuisine served in India, but it has a European touch," Navraj Singh said. "The presentation is beautiful. Eye appeal is 50 percent of the battle, because the eyes have to appreciate how the food is being served."